


Interrogation and Tea

by Overherenow



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Speculation, air clearing, tea is good for emotional pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 11:06:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10898055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overherenow/pseuds/Overherenow
Summary: Aida struggles with her new emotions, Coulson just wants to find The Russian and Jemma has an argument with a talking head Post 4x21





	Interrogation and Tea

Interrogations and Tea *

Seething Aida strained at her shackles, the loathsome things somehow managed to prevent her from accessing her inhuman powers. They were most likely the creations of Leopold, her cheating lover, or Jemma Simmons, the woman who he loved and who she hated even more than anyone. The manacles restricted her movement and hurt, so behind the relentless current of anger was a undercurrent of claustrophobic panic so many feelings that she just didn’t understand. She was chained to the end of a board room table in a anonymous room captured by her enemies.

Leopold was hunched over in a corner, rocking slightly, no longer the strong confident man who took what he wanted. The man she had known in the framework. At the other end of the table sat Jemma Simmons, always so meek and mousey, she couldn’t understand why Leopold would love her, especially now when Simmons looked so tired and pale, when he had her. But she was pleased by the distance between them.

Agent May sat directly across from her and Aida finally understood the term “if looks could kill” there was a malicious gleam in Agent May’s eyes that made the hair on the back of her neck rise up, an very uncomfortable sensation. Daisy, the inhuman sat on the other side of Agent May, who while slightly less intimidating, had clearly been taking lessons on interrogation from Agent May. A ghost memory of pain from when she had been pushed out of a window by the inhuman’s powers set her on edge. Finally the enigmatic Agent Coulson, seated on the other side of Agent May, Aida didn’t understand him at all.

“Aida…. Ophelia, Fitz has told us that you would be able to help us track down the Russian” He spoke to her directly, meeting her eyes and not looking away. “We need to prevent whatever he is planning from coming to fruition. This information that you hold is why you were captured instead of killed” He glanced at Agent May “Although some of us argued otherwise.” His tone is wry but with an undercurrent of steel, he would have let Agent May kill her. Again fear rose to the top the emotional storm and with it anger, the Russian would carry out the plan and then she could torment her captors to her heart’s content, apart from Leopold, he would love her unconditionally.

She let the anger and hatred in her eyes speak for her, they would get nothing from her and then she would take revenge for all of the slights they had done to her. Daisy would have her back and limbs broken, payment for what she had done in the framework. She would tear Coulson and May from each other, and trap them in unfulfilling, pointless normal lives. Simmons would be killed, probably very slowly if she could keep her new-born tempers in check.

“Ophelia” Leopold spoke very quietly, rubbing his left hand, not looking at her “please help us, I know that you wanted to do good, you still can.” She felt a surge of annoyance at his weakness, but soon bold, confident Leopold would be back.

“She won’t help us Fitz” Simmons spoke “she set on her plan now and I don’t think even you can persuade her not to.”

“What are we going to do then Simmons?” Leopold snapped back with an explosion of frustration “Torture her? Kill her” he took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

Simmons stood up sharply, chair slamming into the wall behind her “We can’t persuade her, Fitz. She’s like an infant, unable to control herself and having tantrums. But unlike an infant she can kill people!”

As Simmon’s anger rose with her, Leopold had also taken to his feet, they glared at each other spoiling for a fight. Then Leopold seamed to realise what he had been doing and sank back into his chair, defeated. Head in his hands he muttered quietly “I can’t do that again Simmons.”

She couldn’t but marvel at how the team was able to control their emotions, right now she could tell they were all angry, looking for something to vent at, but instead they sat around the table and tried to talk to her out of her brilliant, world saving plan. Envy raced through her, to her emotions raced through her, acting out her ever whim, While they manage to subjugate their emotions to higher logic. An emotion tugged at her chest an mix of hot anger and desperate wanting, she was jealous?

Simmon’s face worked as she struggled with something internal. Abruptly she turned and left the room. Daisy who up until this point had been silent reached out and put her hand on Leopold’s wrist. He flinched but Daisy kept her hand with him, very gently she spoke “No one is asking that of you Fitz.”

He looked at her with a wounded expression and said brokenly “I’m so sorry Daisy” His voice broken and tears weld up in his eyes.

Daisy shook her head, “It wasn’t you Fitz” he seemed to be about to argue with her but she spoke over him “the fact that you are disgusted now by what you did in there, proves to me that YOU are nothing like that monster.” She took his hand “He might exist in you, but you chose to be different than him” He sniffled and squeezed her hand.

Disgust at his weakness finally forced her to speak “If Leopold was still himself, his real self, you would be on the way find the Russian right now” Not that that would work, Leopold loved her too much. Suddenly Fitz made eye contact with her, eyes cold and echo of the Doctor sliding out from underneath that broken shell.

“Do. Not. Call. Me. Leopold.” He said in a very low voice. She had never had Leopold’s rage directed at her before and it was disquieting. “That is what HE called me! AND I HATE HIM!”

Everyone seems rather rattled by his outburst an silence reigns for several minutes. Then Coulson resumes trying to persuade her to talk and May looks like she is deciding what tools she will need for her torture. Its not the idea of torture that sends chills down Aida's spine but the small innocuous smile on May's lips.

The door opens and Simmons comes in carrying a black bag. Leopold looks surprised that she’d come back “Thought you had left” there is no trace of anger in his voice now.

Simmons gives him a look, part loving part exasperated. “Fitz, she isn’t going to help us, It isn’t in her programming” She held up her hand to prevent any arguments that Aida is Ophelia now and human (sort of). “But we are not all programming Fitz, we’re hardware too.” Everyone looks very confused. Jemma sighs, annoyed that no one is getting her brilliant idea. She glances at Aida “Its called thinking outside the box, you won’t tell us were the Russian is, and we can’t find out. Then we have to look at the hardware and then trace it back to its roots.”

Daisy frowns “Simmons you don’t mean?” She trails off. Jemma nods excited that someone’s figured it out “They came from the submarine, and they were in contact with it. The hardware inside of them will let us locate the sub.” Daisy seems to understand the plan but everyone else looks really confused. Simmons drops the bag on the table, its dripping slightly. “Fitz could you pass me a cable” He gets up fiddles with a draw on the side of the room and passes a lead to her. She doesn’t check it’s the right one and he doesn’t question which one she needs, in sync. How aggravating. Simmons takes a deep breath and unzips the bag and up ends it. Leopold’s LMDs lifeless head lands with a splat on the table, Fitz looks like he’s going to throw up, Coulson and May look shocked.

Daisy pokes it with her finger ”Jemma” She says conversationally “that's a bit macabre.”

Simmons who’s fiddling with the neck and power cable replies distractedly “Well the May and Coulson LMD’s were too badly damaged by the explosion and you destroyed the Mack and…” her voice catches “Director Mace's LMDs”

“Couldn’t you have used one mine?”

“I tried but they weren’t activated yet so there was not information on them” She gestured at the head “He was though… he knew everything, get ready to run the location Ok?” Daisy scrambles to call up the necessary program. Leopold makes a little chocking sound.

May butts in “Simmons are you sure its not going to go haywire, and kill us all?” Simmons gives her a flat look “That why I removed its head” Again a chocking noise comes from Fitz, which is ignored as Simmons has finally found a place to plug in the power cord. Daisy absentmindedly makes the windows turning on sound, as her fingers fly over the keyboard. Fitz’s LMDs eyes flutter open and everyone recoils, Fitz had gone the colour of oatmeal. May, Coulson and Daisy look very squiked out. It twitches as it tries to move its body, then glances around the room, its gaze finally landing on Jemma and the Fitz LMD decoy's head looks very put out.

“You could have left me a body Jemma” The head protests “I would never hurt you or anyone else I care about.”

“Shut up” she snaps at the head concentrating on the running location program “We’re not having this conversation, you’re just a head.”

The head continues to make its case heard “Everything I did Jemma was to protect you, so we had never have to worry about losing each other again! It was going to help us! You don’t trust me!”

This is what gets Simmon’s attention “Trust you!!!! You infiltrated the base, kidnapped our friends and tried to download my mind into a hellhole, that’s your version of trying to help” Leopold (the one with the body) is looking increasingly upset, repetitively rubbing his left hand as if it hurts him, although the nerve damage hasn’t sufficiently healed. Listening to the woman he chose over her argue with the robotic version of himself.

“Yes it is.” The head argued “I’m trying to keep us safe, from everything that keeps trying to pulls us apart” Daisy lets out a little sob, but her eyes are still on the flashing screen. “Instead of letting me keep us safe, you drop and engine on me and kill me, that really hurt."

Outraged, Simmons scoped the head up and shook it violently up and down ignoring the heads plaintive cries to stop. That it was going to be sick. “You stabbed me first! And then you knocked me out and tied me to a chair… badly I might add. Even in robot form you can’t tie a knot” Simmons gathered herself and dropped the head back on the table “Then I had to go to the framework, which is a horrible place by the way and try to rescue people who didn’t want to be saved.”

The heads expression changed, sorrowful blue eyes gazed up at them, “I’m so sorry Jemma that you had to go through all that ”It does sound truly regretful,“ Did you manage to see Fitz again?”

Simmons looks down the table at Leopold, face so full of love even Aida can see it, and the anger and envy make her mouth taste bitter, he looks back face open with love and fear and self disgust. It’s a poignant moment.

“Yes” Jemmas voice is gentle, quiet now. “we did, it was a team effort.”

The head looks delighted “really, you’ve all been have been so brave then” There is a moment of silence before the head speaks again “Have you told him the answer?”

“To what?”

“To what we talked about, before you stabbed me? You said you would.”

Simmons looks very sad, and shakes her head. “So much has happened; he’s de

vastated by what happened in there. Its not something he needs right now.”

The head look disappointed “Are we right though? Is it what we think it will be?” Eyes closed, face full of pain, Simmons gives a very quick nod. The head smiles, an exhilarated joyful expression that Aida has never seen Fitz give to her. The head tries to look at Fitz “Hey Fitz, come here” Fitz startled obeys the command almost without thinking, his own head looks indignantly back at him. “Fitz” it says, purpose in every word. “Get your head out of your backside, whatever you’re going through, get through it. Or I’ll get my body to knock some sense into you, Ok?” Fitz is too dumbstruck that a version of himself is talking to him to reply. “You’ve got a brilliant girl there so don’t go messing it up.” It looks a Jemma, “You need to be patient with him Ok, you know who he gets with guilt.”

She nods, and takes Leopold’s hand and gives it a firm squeeze “I know.” They look at each other for a long time, its so sweet its nauseating.

“I found the location” Daisy suddenly pipes up, while everyone has been drawn into the drama, she's managed to focus long enough to find the sub. “Lets go clear our names” and bolts out of the room. Coulson and May stand as one, clearly please to be in action again.

“Miss Ophelia” Coulson says pleasantly “Any attempt to escape this room or warn your friend the Russian and you will be dealing with Agent May." The look May gives dares her to have a go. He leaves to room probably to tell the pilot of the zephyr the prep for an assault, or go submarine mode, for all she knows Coulson has made upgrades to the planes.

The head looks a little sad “You’re going deactivate me are you?” “You’re too dangerous” But the women looks a little sad. Aida doesn’t understand it tried to kill her and yet the women still feels bad about deactivating it. This is why she is superior. “I understand why you would think that” it blinks “take care alright? Both of you” Fitz gently deactivates the head, its eyes going blank, lids closing.

They’re not looking at each other but there is no doubt that their focus is only on each other as they pack Fitz LMD head away. Fitz suddenly looks Simmons directly in the eye “You didn’t tell me you were hurt “ then there was real anger in his voice again “By him… Me.”

Simmons looks down trying to hide her expression “I didn’t want to upset you and every time I try I remember killing you… him” Her eyes are shadowed “Its awful”

“we’ve got a lot to talk about haven’t we” Leopold sounds anxious, if a little bashful.

“I suppose we do” Then more brightly “cup of tea?”

“I’d love one” they smile tentatively at each other ad leave the room carrying the black bag between them.

 How did they do that? Start to forgive each other, even when the other has hurt them so badly. When she was an android she could barely comprehend why and even now she had emotions she still couldn’t get it. As she watched them leave the room, the confusion must have shown on her face as Agent May, who obviously has been left of guard duty leans forward and looks her right in the eye. “Its called being in an adult relationship” she's stern but calm. “Its loving all of someone’s, everything about them even the bits they don’t like about themselves, through good times and bad. Doing everything to try to make it work. Not all of us can do it and many try but fail….” Her eyes are very dark and far away “Its love, it can be made or fabricated it just is what is is” And try as she might, she can’t wrap her mind around it.

**Author's Note:**

> For the record Tea is a miraculous drink that sooths tempers and comforts broken hearts.


End file.
